Courage: A Bottom Up Approach To Changing The System

The degradation of the system has allowed for those who lean towards more unscrupulous ideologies to take the reigns of our social construct and steer it towards a more divisive direction. They prey on negativity, uncertainty, and fear, and aim to perpetuate these stereotypes to ensure we are at each other's throats so that control of the population is ensured.

Although this is nothing new, I see opportunity to reverse this trend through disarming those who act in this manner by educating the public in matters of mental health and promoting a culture of understanding. Interestingly enough I believe this is naturally happening though very slowly.

One of the consequences of this state of affairs is that though politicians are perfectly positioned to have the greatest impact to advance our culture, they have the exact opposite effect. I believe this is partly due to the fact that people are forced to absorb whatever they are pushing through the various methods the media uses to frame these messages.

The best shield to these messages I can think of is exposure to that which you fear. Have you ever met a Mexican person before? They're quite charming and have a rich culture with unique tradition. Given the choice, I imagine they would want everyone to succeed with whatever it is they want to do. That's not to say Mexican people aren't subject to their own forms of subversion which illicit their own fears and negative stereotypes. Which, again, can be alleviated through exposure. However, demonizing a group for further political gain may become ineffective in the future if diversity and exposure can flourish.

I see this type of positive exposure to have deep rooted effects in the mind. Accepting Mexican people as harmless (and even interesting) breaks this idea that certain groups of people are threats. What other groups have I formed discriminatory ideas about that are likely bullshit? Blacks? Women? Old white men? This may also lead to the notion that they may be seen as individuals which in turn promotes an empathetic stance.

This leads to the next and arguably more important line of defense against divisive messages. While exposure is a useful method for undoing much of the false perception of the world embedded in people, one of the methods for preventing these ideas from nesting the mind in the first place is understanding of the self. Hate comes from frustration, and frustration comes from an unending supply of sources. A frustrated individual is much more likely to be drawn into a negative stance.

The benefits to the individual are clear, the amount of stress that can be reduced by not perpetually being exposed to existential threats is meaningful. Seeing people as friendly and useful rather than as obstacles is a much easier way to navigate through life.

Perhaps the Buddhist concept of eliminating all suffering is less so about dealing with the discomfort of life, but more about unlocking human potential by naturally rejecting hate through a lack of frustration so we may focus on the talents and abilities we were given.

This is a process, and looking at the current state of unhappiness of people, it may take many, many years before we evolve the majority to live with one another in harmony. I think there is hope, there must be, otherwise this is all pointless. The advent of widespread communication technologies has accelerated this exposure and created cultures within cultures but permeates our lives as a culture of its own to which we (almost) all have access.

This leads me to the title of this piece: we have the opportunity be the source of human advancement, that is, you and I on an individual level.

We have the power to evolve ourselves through this exposure and to choose understanding to further our own happiness but more importantly we have the power to ACT on this understanding. Rejecting small day to day frustration and hate, whether it be ourselves or others, can progressively build the culture which optimizes our being. We have the power to verbally stand up for others; we can take an empathetic approach to dealing with individuals who perpetuate hate because we know they are gripped by frustration and may not have ever been shown how to love one another properly.

It means a natural rejection of the perpetual hate being spewed by those who should be acting in the best interests of everyone. A rejection of the message becomes political pressure to change their ideology or else the courage to vote into office those with the courage to run with platforms that are more in line with acceptance, understanding, and subsequent human advancement. This in turn reinforces optimism that the system CAN work which further increases civic engagement.

There are many details surrounding this idea I omitted due to brevity, but hope the idea can stick. I would rather not sit and wait for decent politicians to enter the arena and inspire me to be a good person.

Helping to change the system can be something as simple as being a good person and doing what we know to be right.